Can you really save me?
by music-is-love10
Summary: “Tristan?” she said in a voice barely above a whisper. “Mary?” he asked. “ So you're the new girl everyone's talking about. Well,it's about time we see each other again.” He was already outside the door as he turned and winked “I'll see you around Mary.
1. Chapter 1

**I know the last thing I need is another fic, but I've had this idea in my head for a while now. And it just keeps building. =] enjoy! And REVIEW. This is my first Gilmore Girls fic, and I really only watched up until the beginning of season 4, so I'm sorry if there are events which aren't correct. But, i've gathered a lot of general info, just from reading other GG fics.**

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First day of work, new town, new office. New life. Rory Gilmore took a deep breath before opening the door of her new office building. She took the elevator up to her floor.

"I can do this." she thought to herself. She walked up and knocked on her boss's door.

"Come in." She opened the door and walked in.

"Ah! Rory, come, come." Said her boss "I am so glad you decided to take the job offer here at the Boston Globe." She smiled politely. "Your office is 3 doors down from here, and we have a staff meeting at 11:00."

" Thank you Mr. Smith" Rory said "I really look forward to working here."

Rory found her office and gasped at the amazing view of the Charles River and Boston University. It was absolutely breathtaking. She sat on the windowsill, and began thinking about her life, and how it's changed in the recent years. Rory graduated Chilton, went to Yale, and lived the good life up until about two years ago. Then her life went awry. The events of the last couple years made her eyes watery, and to keep from having another breakdown, Rory got up and looked at her watch. It read 10:45 which meant she had 15 minutes to find where the staff meeting was going to be held, and get some coffee.

As she walked out of the office, she ran into someone. "Shit." she heard. Rory looked up only to find that she had walked into Summer Reagen,one of the sluttiest girls at school.

"Summer." she said.

" You look really familiar." Summer stated as she inspected Rory's face. " I could swear I've seen you somewhere."

Rory chuckled, "Yeah we went to Chilton together, remember?"

Summer gasped. "Oh yeah! I'm sorry I didn't recognize you before, its been so long since I've been in Hartford, let alone talked to someone from Chilton." " When did you come to Boston? And since when have you been working for the Globe? I mean I know its a big paper, but -"

"I just started today." Rory smiled. Then she looked at Summer's shirt and gasped. " Oh Summer, I'm really sorry! I got coffee all over your shirt!"

Summer looked down and sighed, " Its okay, it happens. And I have a coat."

Rory immediately felt guilty. "No, no, no. You look to be about the same size as me, and since I just moved here, I've got bags full of clothes in my car." She handed Summer the keys. "Go inside, pick something and leave your dirty one in the front seat so I can wash it."

"Thanks Rory!" Summer said as she turned around.

"Summer!" Rory called out

"Yeah?"

"Where's the staff meeting?" she asked nervously. "Like I said, I'm new here and I really don't know where anything is."

Summer smiled and said "Its on our way down, the conference room is on the 2nd floor, room 311. Thanks for letting me borrow something, we can swap clean clothes tomorrow."

Rory smiled and said "I'm really sorry about that."

Summer waved her off. "I look forward to seeing more of you Rory Gilmore. I'll be up soon."

* * *

Rory exited the elevator and found room 311. She walked in and her boss grabbed her by the arm.

"Everyone! Listen up! We have a new reporter, Rory Gilmore." said

Rory's cheek flushed a deep shade of pink. She hated these types of introductions. "Hi." she managed to get out.

"Now, I expect you all to be on your best behavior, and help her out with anything she needs." said Mr. Smith.

Rory quickly found a seat in the back of the room, cheeks burning a crimson red. She began listening to Mr. Smith speak about events that had to be attended, and deadlines that had to be met. She also heard something about an endorsement party. The meeting was over as quick as it started, and just as Rory was leaving, she felt a tap on her shoulder, and saw Summer's hand dangling her car keys. She took them and smiled.

"Rory! You have the coolest clothes ever, please feel free to spill coffee on me anytime!" Summer exclaimed.

Rory laughed. "That won't be needed, you can raid my closet in exchange for some shoe privileges."

"Boy are we going to get a long well!" Summer said as she linked her arm through Rory's. They chatted the whole elevator ride about their lives. It was weird, since they hadn't really been from the same social circles during high school. But, it was nice nonetheless. They parted ways to go to their respective offices.

* * *

Rory had been sitting at her desk, just getting herself oriented. She wasn't really writing anything yet, just surfing the web for some things to make her office feel more homey. She looked up when she heard a knock on her door, and Summer came in.

"I was wondering if you wanted to go to lunch with us?" Summer asked. " You can meet some more people too."

Rory smiled. Food sounded like a good idea, and she had been so busy today that her coffee needs had been neglected. "Sure, thanks!" Rory said.

Summer, Rory, Marissa, and Lorie were all sitting at a table in a quiet little bistro around the corner from the office. They were all having a really good time, and Rory fit in just fine. They were all becoming fast friends, as by the time they were done lunch, they had made plans to go out to a club later that night.

Smiling to herself, Rory walked into her office, only to find someone else sitting in her chair. She did a double take.

"Oh I'm sorry, I must be in the wrong office. Oh wait, nope, its mine." she smirked.

The figure sitting in the chair turned around, and Rory almost screamed. "Tristan?" she said in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Mary?" he said. " So you're the new girl everyone's talking about. Well, well, it's about time we see each other again." he said with a smirk.

She nervously smiled and said "Yeah, it's been what, 6 years?"

"Well, I just came by to say hello to the new girl, but you're not new at all."

She opened her mouth to find something to say, but he was already outside the door frame as he turned and said "I'll see you around, Mary."

**I hope you guys like it! I'm not really sure where it's going at this point, but I'll figure it out soon enough. REVIEW please!!**


	2. Chapter 2

**THANK YOU TO ALL OF THOSE WHO REVIEWED!**

**Many thanks to Sleeping to Dream About You. She mentioned my story in hers and it made me feel very happy and extremely honored!!! Thanks :] (you all should go check out _Shadows and Regrets_, its a good read and so worth the time!!)**

**Feel free to ask questions, I LOVE them!! **

**panther73110-**Yep :] but, to what extent, im not sure yet

* * *

Later that night, Rory was standing in front of a mirror putting on mascara and getting ready for her night out with Summer and the girls. Dressed in something a lot more daring than her normal wardrobe selection (Damn her mother for packing her bags!) she contemplated her reflection in the mirror. She was wearing a green strapless dress, a little too revealing for her taste, but it ended just about the knee. She donned black stilettos and a bracelet. In an attempt to look a little more classy, and less revealing, Rory left her hair down as it was.

According to Summer, they were going to a club called Area, and it was "the hottest club since Booty Call got bought out". It was 7:30 and Lorie was going to pick her up at 8. She was shy, like Rory, so naturally Rory was intrigued by her. Sitting down on her couch with a cup of coffee and a book, Rory decided to read in order to help her pass the time. There was only one problem, she couldn't concentrate. Despite her best efforts, she wasn't able to focus on reading. Her mind kept going back to Tristan. He had really surprised her when she found him lounging in her chair. In the back of her mind, she had always wondered how he had been doing. Sighing, she got up, put her book down, and turned the TV on to try and drown out her thoughts. Thinking about the past really made her upset, and she wanted to move on, not dwell in the past. What's done is done.

Hearing her doorbell ring, Rory grabbed her purse and shut the TV off. Lorie and Marissa were standing on the doorstep of her apartment, looking gorgeous.

"Rory!" they exclaimed. "You look cute"

She blushed and ducked her head. "Thanks, guys. You do too. But I have to say, I'm not a big clubber."

Lorie and Marissa laughed " We're not fans either, but it's fun to hang out there, not to mention the eye candy there is unlimited." Marissa said.

They all laughed and got into Marissa's car. Rory was beginning to think that maybe her time here in Boston wouldn't be such a drag, after all, new town, new Rory, right?

* * *

Tristan sat at the bar nursing a beer with his friends, Logan, Colin, and Finn. They were all laughing, joking and hitting on every woman that came their way. Flagging down the waitress, Logan and Finn ordered new drinks. Colin had been dragged away to the dance floor by some drunk blond girl. Tristan sat at the table, mercilessly flirting with a brunette. She was running her hands through her hair, and openly fixing the bust line of her shirt. As much as he wanted to pull his eyes away, he couldn't. She caught him staring, and winked, dragging him by the hand on to the dance floor as Logan and Finn whooped loudly.

They began dancing, and within seconds, it was getting heated as she was pushing up against him, and rocking her hips back and forth. Before he could even get into it, another brunette came and dragged her away, whispering something in hushed tones. He shrugged and left them to be, going back to the table with Logan and Finn. He sat down and announced that he had been dumped for another girl.

"What, mate?" said Finn. "She actually left, and stopped dancing, to go dance with another _girl?_ And you didn't stay to watch?" he asked incredulously.

Logan nodded his head in agreement, and Tristan laughed. "Chick on chick grinding is not something I like to witness while standing _ALONE_ on the dance floor."

"Then just drag them with you!" Colin and Finn exclaimed. Both of them gave each other high fives and shouted.

Tristan laughed and went to go get another drink. As he ordered shots for the whole table, he noticed that a couple seats down from him, was Mary. Only, she wasn't following her dress code very well. The dress she was wearing was mind blowing. Her legs stretched on for miles, and the amount of cleavage she showed was just right. The best part was, she wasn't falling all over the place like some girls here. He sauntered over to where she was sitting, and came face to face with Summer.

"Great" he inwardly groaned.

"What are you doing here Tristan?" she asked, clearly pissed off.

"Well, I came over here to ask Rory if she wanted to dance." the words flew out of his mouth before he could stop them. He mentally kicked his own ass. She would never dance with him!

Before Rory could even open her mouth to speak, Summer spoke for her. "No." she said in a short tone.

Tristan was getting irritated, she needed to learn to let things go. He pulled Summer aside and hissed at her "What are you doing?!"

She pulled her arm away and hissed back "I am not going to let you do to Rory what you did to me. She's new here, let her have a good time. Do not think for once second that you fool me Dugrey, I'm always ten steps ahead of you." With that, she marched away and took all her friends with her to a table on the other end of the club.

All night, Tristan had been pissed off at Summer, and he really wanted to talk to Rory. It was 11 by now, and he decided to go and see what they were doing. Colin and Finn were too drunk for his taste, and Logan was probably off flirting with some girl.

When he came closer to the table that Summer was at, he saw that Summer and her friends were no where to be seen. This made Tristan breathe a little bit easier as he walked over to the table. He just wanted to catch up with Rory, at least, that's what kept running through his head. As he got closer, he saw two familiar faces at the table, one was Rory's and the other he realized was Logan's. He knew what Logan was like, and he didn't want Rory to have to deal with a skeeze like him. On his way over, the brunette from earlier came up and starting talking to him again, and she started apologizing for earlier. Tristan tried to shrug her off as nicely as he could, but by the time he looked over to the table, both Logan and Rory were gone. He looked around for them, praying he wouldn't find his tongue down her throat.

"Shut up Tristan" he thought to himself. "Rory's not like that, and you know it."

He looked around to find Rory with her arms around Logan, and they looked pretty cozy dancing with each other. In a moment of anger, and jealousy, he quickly found the previous brunette and began dancing with her, making sure to stand where Rory could see them.

"Why am I doing this?" He thought to himself. "Does she even care? Why do I care? I don't even talk to her, but I get jealous when I see her with Logan?She's been here a day, and I'm _stalking her?!_"

The song ended, and Rory and Logan broke apart. In a flash, he maneuvered himself away from the girl, and grabbed Rory by the arm, pulling her to him. He made sure not to pull her too close, as he didn't want to scare her.

"Hey." he said.

"Tristan, was pulling me away from him really needed?" Rory asked.

He shrugged. "He'll get over it. Do you want to take a walk outside?"

As soon as he asked that, she looked down at the floor, and he worried that he scared her off. "Just to catch up." he added. "I haven't seen you in so long, I think we deserve at least one conversation."

She nodded, and we both walked out into the night. It was nice, not too cold, but not too hot either.

"So." Tristan said. "What happened after I left Chilton?"

"Well, I graduated, and went to Yale. Paris and I even became friends, and later room mates at Yale. I even got valedictorian from Chilton." she said with a smile on her face. Then she looked over at me and said "What about you?"

He hesitated, clearing his throat and stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Well, after Military School I signed up for the war. But I also applied to Harvard, UNC, Yale, USC, and Boston College. I was actually set on going to Yale, since thats where my dad wanted me to go, but I ended up going to Boston College, and then transferring to Harvard. It looks better to have a degree from Harvard." he said shrugging his shoulders. "Turns out the military ended up drafting me, but they sent the letter to BC, and not Harvard. So I never got to serve my turn. I'm kind of glad though." when he looked up, she was looking at him with an unreadable expression on her face.

"What?" he asked her.

"Nothing" she smiled. "You've grown up to be more than I thought you would be."

I laughed. "My high school days weren't my most shining moments."

They kept walking in silence, down the street. When he looked at his wrist, it read 12:00 AM. Tristan looked over at Rory and said "Umm, we should go back. Your friends are probably looking for you, and its getting pretty late and we have to go to work in the morning."

She looked at him and doubled over in laughter. " Oh – my – god." she said gasping for breath. "I cannot believe Mr. Dugray is responsible. This is the one thing I was sure I'd never see."

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh all you want. Come on, let's get you home."

She stopped laughing and looked down the road, then tugged on his sleeve. "We can just walk home, The club's further away than my house at this point."

Tristan nodded and turned around. "But what about Summer and your friends?"

She shrugged and kept walking. "It doesn't really matter, besides they're all dancing and what not. And I'm tired. I don't stay out and party all night."

He walked her home, and when they were at her front porch, he gave her a hug and whispered into her ear. "You should wear those kinds of clothes more often. There's nothing like a jaw dropping Mary."

**A/N: This chapter was really hard to write, so I hope you liked it. Please read and review! You guys are awesome!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I hope this chapter lives up to expectations!**

**Okay..questions..**

**Some of you asked if Rory already knew Logan from Yale, and the answer is : Yes. She did know him, but Tristan doesn't know that they know each other. Therefore, the innocent catching up that they were doing looked like more to Tristan. **

**And Summer knows Tristan, but for reasons undisclosed she didn't tell Rory about him.**

**okay more than enough babbling from me.

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Walking into her office and sitting down in her comfy chair, Rory Gilmore turned on her computer only to find that her boss had emailed her, stating that it was very important she come into his office. Hitting a few buttons, she responded by saying she would be there in 30 minutes. It was her third week of working at the Globe, and she loved it. She loved the variety of jobs she got, writing articles in more than one area, and allowing her to be exposed to many different types of writing. Before she headed down to Mr. Smith's office, Rory burst into Summer's office.

"Good Morning!" she said.

"Well, Good Morning sunshine." said Summer as she handed Rory a cup of coffee.

"Oh, see now you totally just made my day. Alright, I've gotta jet, Smith wants me in his office ASAP."

She went down to Mr. Smith's office and knocked on the door. "Come in." he said. Walking in she saw Tristan sitting in a chair. She gave him a questioning glance as she sat down, and he simply smiled.

"Rory, please come in and sit" said her boss. "I've called you both in today because I want to try something different. Now, since you two work in very different departments and may not necessarily know each other, let me introduce you."

Before he could continue, Rory cut in and said "I know Tristan, sir. He and I were friends in high school for some time."

"Ah, well that saves me some breath then. While you were getting here, I told Tristan about you're joint assignment. I want you two to write articles on an international company, _La Mer_. They have branches in just about every field, but one of their biggest competitors is also opening a theater company and I need you two to attend both opening shows and compare them."

This actually sounded like a good idea to her, she was really genuinely excited to get to spend time with Tristan. She hadn't seem in 6 or 7 years and they deserved a chance to get caught up.

"Rory?" she heard someone call her name.

She looked up, startled, and cleared her throat. "Yes?" she asked.

"So, you will be going to the shows tonight and tomorrow night. I made sure to get you the best seats in the house. You will not be expected to pay for anything. There is a car available for both of you, and you may as well go out to dinner before the play. Oh, and there is an after-party both nights. Obviously you two will be expected to attend."

Rory looked over and Tristan and smiled. "This could be potentially exciting." she thought to herself.

* * *

Tristan had been standing in front of his mirror for about 10 minutes now, trying to figure out which shirt to wear. He was nervous, really nervous. He had tried at least five different shirt/tie combinations. Dabbing on some cologne and grabbing the flowers off his dresser, Tristan grabbed the car keys and headed towards Rory's.

On the way over, he realized that this was pretty much a date. Well, besides the fact that they both had to take notes on the play and the party, but it _seemed_ like a date. Cutting the engine, he sat in his car for a couple seconds to clear his head. "Why the hell am I so nervous?" he kept asking himself. And then he smiled to himself, "This dinner's gonna be awesome. We deserve to be friends and catch up." Still smiling, he got out of the car and rode the elevator up until he reached her floor.

Rory was dressed in a simple black dress that came to just above her knees. Her hair was curled and she wasn't wearing much jewelry except for a bracelet. Applying the last of her mascara, and tucking some eye liner into her purse, she heard a knocking. "Coming!" she called out. She spritzed on some perfume, grabbed her keys, coat and purse, and opened the door. Tristan was standing there with a bouquet of flowers.

"Hi." she said.

"Hey." looking at the flowers he said "These are for you."

She blushed and looked down. "Thanks, you didn't have to."

"My pleasure." he said.

"Well, I'm a sucker for flowers, and I don't want these to get ruined. So, unless we're going to be late, do you want to come in while I put these in a vase?" Rory asked.

He nodded and she turned around and headed towards the kitchen to find a vase. Turning on the faucet, she saw him lean his back against the counter, so that he was facing her.

"I'm glad you like the flowers." he said, almost shyly.

"They're great." she said while putting the flowers inside and setting them on the table.

"Ready?" she asked.

They were having dinner in a quiet, dimly lit Italian restaurant right across the street from the theater. The whole ride, they had both been laughing and joking, and never was there once a lull in the conversation. They were now eating, and he was openly staring at Rory.

She blushed and looked at him with a questioning glance. "Care to tell me why you're staring?"

"Its just, you _eat_" he said.

"Well, yeah, I mean unless you wanted me to die, it would be pretty necessary for me to, you know, digest food and coffee."

"No, I mean, you eat. I've been going out with girls for a long time, and never once has anyone ordered a fried chicken and shrimp entrée. "

She burst out laughing. "Oh the horror! Well, I am just un-like most girls, aren't I? And besides, I have been living on fried foods. Its a wonder how I'm not the size of Jupiter yet."

"Yes, you are. In fact, Mary, you are the most unconventional girl I know." he said.

"Well, I'll take that as a compliment." pushing her plate back, she announced "I'm stuffed."

"Its about time!" Tristan said jokingly.

"Hey!" she threw her napkin at him and made a pouty face. "You're mean."

"Poor baby." he smirked. "Where are you going?" he asked when he saw Rory standing up.

"Running away from you." she stuck her tongue out and said "Bathroom, I'm just going to go and freshen up."

Nodding, he flagged down the waiter for the check, and handed him the company credit card. His mind drifted to the dinner they just had;it was all just so comfortable and natural. He had been wanting to go out with Rory Gilmore ever since Chilton, and he had been pretending that thats what this whole night was, _a date.

* * *

_

When they left the restaurant, it was pouring rain. Rory ducked inside the theater, all the while grumbling at Tristan about how deciding to walk was his terrible idea. He laughed lightly, and slung his arm over Rory's shoulder.

"I think you still look drop dead gorgeous." he whispered into her ear.

He could feel her blush, as her head of brown curls ducked downwards. Removing his arm, he said "I'm going to the bathroom. I'll meet you inside."

She nodded, and headed to the bathroom herself to fix her rain soaked appearance. All the while thinking to herself "What is with him?" At the club he said the same thing, and then tonight. She just shook her head, hoping to compose herself. Heading into the bathroom, she was horror stricken at her appearance. Her eyeliner was beginning to run, and her face was still slightly pink from Tristan's earlier comment. Her hair was plastered to the side of her face, and the top of it was getting frizzy. "God, how could he ever think I looked good?" she groaned as she splashed some water on her face.

It had been at least 15 minutes, and Rory was pretty sure that she might have already missed the beginning of the play. She had cleaned off her face, and reapplied the makeup that she stored in her purse. Always having bobby pins and hair ties swimming in her purse, she decided to put her hair up in a bun and pin her bangs to her forehead. Studying her reflection in the mirror, she decided that she at least looked better than when she walked in.

"Finally" Tristan muttered as he saw Rory coming through the aisle into their row. He was beginning to get worried and was going to go check on her himself if she didn't come back when she had. She sat down next to Tristan, and he realized that she had changed her appearance, putting her hair in a bun and she had totally re-done her appearance.

"God, what is wrong with me? I don't usually ever notice girls' appearances, but Rory comes to town and I notice every little thing about her." he muttered to himself. He didn't even realize he had slung his arm over her shoulder, and was now playing with the strap of her dress. Rory looked up at him, and smiled. For some reason, this odd gesture of affection made her feel completely content and safe. Turning back to the play, she buried herself in the crook of his shoulder.

The play sucked. It was a horrible choice for a launch show. The pay lacked charisma, the actors lacked the ability to portray the characters vividly and there were a number of glitches that even an amateur theater made sure didn't happen. The light system was not very well built, the color of the lighting wasn't even up to par, and the sound system was awful. Tristan and Rory were discussing their opinion of the overall show and they both agreed that it was terrible. Now, Rory wanted to softly let it down while Tristan said "all of the naked truth should be exposed". The whole way to the after party- which they both decided to simply make an appearance to and then excuse themselves from- was spent bickering over the format of which this review was to be done.

* * *

They found themselves outside a posh hotel in downtown Boston as the location of the party. It was still raining very heavily now, and it was quickly turning into a full blown storm. The winds were getting pretty high, and there was the occasional clap of thunder that wasn't so occasional anymore. Tristan led a shivering Rory into the building, all the while cursing the poor parking system they had in place for this party. They had to park more than a block away, and the last thing Tristan needed was to get sick.

They walked as fast as they could to get inside the building. There was no hope at this point for them to even consider being dry, and Rory was very upset.

She turned to Tristan and said "I think this dress is cursed, first I get wet coming from the restaurant to the theater and now this! Except this time, there really is no hope of my being dry. No, I'm just going to catch pneumonia and die!" She exclaimed.

Tristan chuckled and said, "Lets stay here for about 5 seconds and then leave." he checked his watch and it read 12:30. "If we do it fast enough we can get you home by 1am at the latest. Lets go." he began walking towards the hall where the party was being held.

She was on Tristan's arm, feeling extremely tired when someone approached her and began cooing. "Rory, _darling._ I didn't expect to see you here." She looked up to find none other than Emily Gilmore talking to her.

She grimaced, then put on a false smile and said "Hi Grandma, long time no see."

Rory felt her grandmothers eyes on her, when she saw that the woman had a rather unpleasant expression upon her face. "Dear, you look _atrocious! _ I hope you don't mind, but I'm not going to be introducing you to any of my friends just now, you look quite terrible and extremely tired. In no way ready to meet the DAR."

Apparently, Tristan saw this as the perfect early escape route. He stuck his hand out to Emily and said "Tristan Du Grey, ma'am"

At the mention of his surname, Emily looked up at him and said "DuGrey? Any relation to Victoria Du Grey?"

"Yes, she's my grandmother."

Emily's face lit up at this. "Oh well she's just across the room, we all decided to come see the launch of _La Mer's_ theater, and we were extremely disappointed. Let me go fetch her, she speaks so highly of you."

A fleeting look of alarm crossed Tristan's face, which only Rory seemed to pick up on. "I'd love to, but then I wouldn't be doing my job as a gentleman would I? Rory here is in wet clothes, and no way ready to be in public. I was actually hoping to get her safely home." he said pointing at the window "Before the storm gets out of hand. I was hoping if you would apologize for our absence." He threw her a charming smile, which by the look on Emily Gilmore's face, won her over.

"Of course darling, go, take care of Rory. We don't want her to get ill now, and there will always be more time to catch up later."

Tristan said "Thank you, Mrs. Gilmore." and began walking out of the hall. When they were safely outside Rory turned to Tristan and said "Thank you."

He nodded, and began ushering her outside. "On second thought, the storm is really bad, let me go bring the car up to the front of the hotel. That way you don't have to walk so far in the rain."

Tristan reappeared with the car, and helped her get inside. Turning to her after he sat down he said " I don't think its a very wise idea to drive you back to your house in this weather. My house is only 10 minutes away from here, and yours is around 30. Let's just take you to my place so you can change, and see where it goes from there."

A panicked expression crossed Rory's face and Tristan turned to her and smirked "Don't worry Mary, I won't do anything to you."

She turned back to face forward and said in a quiet tone "Thanks for doing this."

Very quietly she heard him mutter "Anything for you, Mary."

**So this was a super long chapter, I hope you guys enjoyed it, and i hope it lives up to expectations!!! Review, Review, REVIEW!**

**I do accept anonymous reviews ;) **


	4. Chapter 4

**I apologize profusely for my lack of updating this story, time just flies. First it was school, and then I discovered the OC and spent every free waking moment I had watching that. And then I started working but with the SAT and everything, it just got out of control. I know that these excuses don't _excuse_ anything, but I hope that I haven't lost TOO many readers. **

**This type of insane time gap won't EVER happen again. **

* * *

Tristan and Rory pulled up to his apartment after 10 minutes of riding in complete silence. They were each absorbed in their own thoughts. But it wasn't uncomfortable, it was an understood need of silence.

Shutting off the ignition, Tristan turned to her "Hey. We're here. Be careful getting out, its still raining pretty hard."

Rory smiled and opened the door, stepping out of the car. Instead of bothering to cover her head, she relished the feeling of rain on her skin, it was soothing and cooling. She turned to find Tristan staring at her.

"What?" she asked shyly.

" Are you _insane?!_ You look excited to be getting drenched."

" I've been sitting in wet clothes for a while now, it's not like I can get any drier at this point in time. Besides, the rain feels really good today. I don't know how to put it, but it smells like change, like the rain is wiping away all the flaws in the world, and tomorrow will be a new slate."

" Wow Rory, that's pretty deep."

She smiled sheepishly. " I just have this weird feeling inside of me, you know? It's kind of like everythings changing and for the first time in a while, I sort of feel like everything's going to be okay."

" I hear philosophy like that can be done from inside a _dry_ building too."

She glared at him. "Way to ruin my moment, Tris. Way to go."

He laughed playfully and began walking towards the building. "Come on!" he shouted. " I don't need you catching pneumonia on my watch. Then your mom would probably have my head, as would both our grandmothers and probably our boss too."

" I am of great importance Tristan. Anything happens to me tonight, and your a dead man." she said as she caught up to him.

" On my watch? Nothing will happen to you, Mary. I am greatly feared in case you didn't know. People tremble when they see me."

" Because of your ogre-like qualities?" she continued innocently. " Well then, I wouldn't be surprised."

"Ha Ha Ha" deadpanned Tristan.

- - -

Inside the apartment - which to Rory's pleasure wasn't as much of a bachelors pad as she'd suspected it to be – it wasn't awkward like she'd thought. Tristan and her were..well, what they _were _ or had been still confused her.. but it was close enough to know each other but far enough that such a situation could easily turn awkward and into a battle zone for both of them.

Rory was sitting on his couch, having freshly showered and was wearing a large, oversized _Boston College _sweater, and black sweatpants that were rolled up and knotted at the waist because they were so big that if she wore them regularly they didn't stay up. The television was on, and playing some teenage soap opera. But Rory was lost within her own thoughts. Seeing Tristan again had been a complete shock for her, and she knew that it was one for the good. Even though he was an arrogant ass in high school he seemed to have changed and grown. She felt different around him, _safer, _in a way. It was as if he was willing to share the burden of her problems. It was a different side, but she was glad that she could count on Tristan.

But there was something disconcerting that she kept trying to push to the back of her mind. _Summer and Tristan_. She wasn't jealous, just curious. Rory had seen Tristan the instant they walked into the club, they were the loudmouth group in the center. She'd spotted Logan as well, and some other fellow that she didn't know. She caught Logan's eye for a second, and she knew that there was no avoiding him now. He nodded at her, briefly, and she had responded. She kept walking, and not really listening to Summer and the girls chatting away. They had just settled down at the table when she looked up to find Tristan and Summer staring warily at each other. Something about her name had passed their lips, but she didn't refocus her thoughts fast enough to catch what they'd said. Just kind of awkwardly staring, Rory watched Tristan drag Summer away from the table. They were too far away to hear anything, but from the looks of it, Summer was fuming. The most she'd gotten out of Summer when she'd asked was "Look Rory, I just want you to be careful. Appearances are deceiving and everyone has a secret that could shake up your world. I'm doing my job as your friend and warning you to be careful. Heed it or not, it's up to you. You're a smart girl."

Before she could try and figure out what Summer meant, Rory was shaken out of her thoughts by Tristan.

"Hey." sitting down across from her, he reached out and offered Rory a cup of coffee.

She smiled gratefully and took a sip. " Thanks. This is really good."

He smiled in response. " Are you okay? You looked really pensive when I walked in."

Her smile quickly faded, her finger was tracing the rim of the cup and she pondered for a minute before answering. " Just thoughts." she finally answered. Right now her brain was a jumbled mess and coherent thoughts weren't happening. She wanted a chance to sort stuff out for herself before she said something that she couldn't take back or change later. " I don't mean to brush you off, but I need to understand it myself before I unload on someone else."

He nodded in understanding. "Just tell me when you're ready to talk. I know that we had..well, I don't really know _what_ we had in high school but I do know that I want to be your friend now. And if you're willing to give me a chance.."

"Of course." she smiled at him and patted the seat next to her on the sofa, extending her friendship.

In her mind, Rory smiled. After a while, it seemed like her life was finally starting to be whole again. The loneliness was beginning subside and she felt like she was turning over a new leaf.

**It's not very long. This was kind of a rushed chapter because I wanted to post something soon and this seemed like the most logical place to stop. The next chapter will be longer, and definitely uploaded sooner. I'm really sorry for keeping people waiting this long. Read and Review Please! ( I accept anonymous reviews)**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N:** I suck, I suck, I suck. It's been _forever_ since I updated and I am really sorry. Maybe some of you still want to read this piece of work? Reviews are love!

I want to thank **ytsgrl** for this chapter because she was kind of enough to look it over :)

**Would it be horrible if i re-titled the story since the current title really doesn't fit? **

Alright, enjoy reading!

* * *

It had been a week and a half since Rory and Tristan officially became friends, and the rumor mill at work was overflowing. Some claimed that they were dating, others said sleeping together, and some simply chose to believe that they really were just friends. Regardless, everyone knew that the two were almost always together now. Where there was Rory, there was Tristan and vice versa.

"Working hard I see." Rory looked up to find Tristan leaning against the doorframe, two coffees in hand.

"Indeed, is that my reward?" she asked, motioning to the coffee with eager eyes.

"Hmm, that's not enough: this coffee comes at a heavy price."

"More than just being an amazingly diligent worker?"

"Of course Gilmore, you don't just get coffee for doing something you're _supposed _to be doing."

"I see, so how exactly will I be indebted to you if I take this coffee? I'm craving coffee, I will do almost anything."

Tristan smirked, "Anything, Mary? Well we could have an afternoon delight at-"

"I said _almost_ anything, you idiot."

"Fine, no afternoon delight. How about lunch? From the deli around the corner?"

"Working lunch? I have to finish three articles." Her eyebrows rose. "And I know for a fact that you have some work to finish too."

He nodded. "That can be arranged. I'll be by later." Handing her the coffee, he smiled and turned around, getting ready to leave.

"Wait!" Rory said "Get me the—"

"Chicken salad on rye with lettuce, tomato, onion and half a pickle." Tristan stated, turning around to look at her.

She smiled, and secretly loved that he knew what she wanted. "Yeah. Now go work, shoo."

**---------**

Summer walked into Rory's office, fully intent on persuading her not to get too close to Tristan. To anyone else's eyes, they were new friends but she knew better. Tristan had been chasing Rory since the day he laid on eyes on her in Mr. Remy's first period English class. She was convinced that the only reason he was pretending to be the nice guy now was to resume the chase that had ended when he left.

"We need to talk." Summer said as she walked into Rory's office.

"Well hello to you too, Summer."

"Really," she said, "We have to talk about you and Tristan."

Rory sighed, "Summer, there is nothing going on between Tristan and me. We're just friends, don't worry. I'm not after him."

Summer groaned in frustration, "Rory, I'm not jealous. If I was, trust me, I would tell you. But as your _friend_, I just feel that we need to talk about this."

"But why? What's wrong with him? I know that he was an ass in high school. Believe me, I called him on it all the time. But I honestly think that he's changed."

"Just do dinner with me tonight, _please._ Just to talk. Besides, I haven't caught up with you recently, I feel like we've lost touch."

Rory sat and pondered it for a couple seconds, she didn't really have anything to lose by talking to Summer about this especially since it would be a good idea to get some more information on Tristan and how he'd been for the past couple years.

"Okay, fine. Bertucci's at 7, alright?"

Summer smiled, "I know that you think I'm being a paranoid, insistent freak about this. But, I care about you. Who knew we'd be friends one day?"

Rory smiled, "You can say that again."

Summer walked back to her office and sat down with her head in her hands. All the other girls told Summer that she was just being jealous, and that she just wanted Tristan to herself again, but she wasn't and she didn't want him. In the three short weeks since Rory had come to Boston, she learned more about the girl than she had in high school and she felt that Rory really was one of her friends. And as her friend, she just wanted to let Rory know what she was getting herself into,; Tristan could be utterly deceiving, she should know – they'd been on and off since high school.

**-------**

Rory had been working hard all morning, wanting to get the articles finished before she had to leave tonight. It was a Friday, and she had better things to do than sit at home all weekend. She hadn't seen Lorelai since she moved up here three weeks ago, and they'd only exchanged the occasional phone call; she wanted nothing more than to go to Stars Hollow and catch up with her mother this weekend. Picking up her phone and calling her mother, Rory was a little upset when Lorelai didn't pick up, but left a voicemail saying that she would be by Stars Hollow late Friday night or Saturday.

Only ten minutes after Rory had gone back to work, the smell of food and coffee wafted into the room and her stomach grumbled loudly.

"Right on time I see."

She looked up to find Tristan in the doorway, coffee, food and laptop in hand.

"Thank You!" she exclaimed, " I'm starving."

Tristan laughed, "Yeah, your stomach kind of mentioned that."

She blushed a deep red, causing him to laugh even more.

"Okay, okay, laugh all you want but hand over the food first!"

Both of them quickly settled into a comfortable silence, each eating and typing diligently. Rory was sitting in her chair, behind the desk and Tristan sat facing her, each one looking up occasionally to smile at the other. Rory was almost done with her last article when she noticed that the person sitting across from her was no longer typing, but laughing at something on the screen.

"That better be your article that's making you laugh." She said in a warning tone.

Tristan looked up and smiled sheepishly, "Business mergers just crack me up?"

She rolled her eyes, but had an amused smile on her face. "Tristan! Do you really want to spend your weekend doing this? Just finish it now."

"Maaaary!" he whined, "Just come here and look at it, tell me that it's _not_ funny and then I'll go back to work."

"It's probably porn or something," she muttered as she made her way around the desk.

"Mary, how lowly do you think of me?" Rory raised an eyebrow at Tristan's question, both of them remembering what had happened three nights ago.

_They were both eating dinner at Tristan's place, as was their usual ritual. Tristan had been in the kitchen, making them both root beer floats to go along with the movie, popcorn and pizza that they were planning to pig out on. The doorbell rang, and she called out "I got it!". It was the pizza boy, and he was carrying two pizza's and three sets of wings and breadsticks. She took the food and placed it onto the counter, informing Tristan that this time he was paying, and went in search of his wallet. She checked everywhere, in the pocket of his pants, his shirt, jacket, and the nightstand table. Rory opened up the desk drawers; there was a 99% chance that the drawers wouldn't have the wallet inside of them, Tristan was not an organized person by any means. Opening the top drawer, she found papers, scraps with numbers, food wrappers, and underneath it all – Tristan's porn collection. Carefully hidden under what would appear to be garbage and junk, there were around fifteen Playboys and Maxims. Ironically, sometime after she shut the drawer in disgust, she found his wallet on the floor. _

_Rushing outside and feeling really bad for keeping the delivery guy waiting, she stopped short when she found him and Tristan on the couch watching the game, drinking __**her**__ root-beer float and eating __**her **__food. Normally, she would have been a little upset but gotten over it. After finding those porn magazines, she was thoroughly disgusted with Tristan's piggish behavior. Walking over to stand in front of the T.V, she handed the pizza guy his money. _

_"Sorry to keep you waiting. It's kind of hard to find his wallet underneath the junk."_

_He smiled, clearly distracted by the game, but nevertheless, she continued. "I looked all over the place you know. Under the bed, in the pocket of his jacket, and I even dug through his drawers in hopes of finding it."_

_This caught Tristan's attention. "You, what?" _

_She smiled sweetly, "I looked all throughout the drawer. Don't worry, I understand."_

_"Y-you do?" _

_Rory looked over and found the pizza guy staring intently at the conversation between the two. Turning back to Tristan she said, "It's hard to find gay men these days, so of course you need your porn to keep you satiated."_

_Both of their eyebrows went up in shock, grinning internally, she continued. "But," Rory said innocently, pointing to pizza guy, "you have him now, right?"_

_"What?!" _

_In the blink of an eye, the delivery boy had up and left, forgoing the money and just running away, leaving Rory pealing with laughter and Tristan with narrowed eyes and steam coming out of his ears. _

_"What the hell was that for?" exclaimed Tristan._

_Her laughter stopped, and she looked at him with a disgusted expression on her face, "Seriously? I'm the one who found PORN in your drawer and YOU'RE mad at ME?" _

"_It's just porn, Mary."_

_She was peeved, "JUST porn? JUST porn? Tristan that is the sickest response anyone has ever given for stashing porn. You are such a PIG, god!" Rory threw her hands up in frustration and began marching around the house, looking for her stuff. The feminist in Rory was coming out full-force and once out, it was hard to suppress. _

"_Mary," Tristan said. But she ignored him and kept stomping throughout the apartment, "Mary" he tried again. _

"_Rory!" _

_She stopped, and turned to face him. He'd never called her Rory before, and for some reason, it unnerved her. "What?" she asked with as much disgust as she could muster._

"_I'm sorry, okay?" _

"_Tristan," she began "I'm sorry doesn't change the fact that you have all of these naked women sitting in your drawer. It's disgusting and pigheaded, and it objectifies women as sex-objects, which they are not!"_

_He began to walk away, leaving Rory confused. "What are you doing?" she called out._

"_Just wait there, okay?"_

_Tristan came back out with a stack of magazines, and repulsion formed on her face. "Now you're going to SHOW them to me? Great, Tristan."_

"_Would you shut up? Just come with me."_

_He took her outside to the garbage can, and threw all of the magazines in there, ripping them up in the process. _

"_There," he said, turning to her "now I don't have them anymore. Happy?"_

_She nodded, and smiled smugly, "I am indeed. But you're still a pig."_

"_What? What'd I do now?"_

"_It's in your DNA, all boys are pigs."_

_He scoffed, "I am not a boy, I am a 24 year old man, thank you."_

"_You play videogames." She stated matter-of-factly. _

"_So? Lot's of men play videogames."_

"_Tristan, you don't know how to do the laundry. You're still a boy."_

"_I do too!"_

"_Then why was the shirt you wore today tinged pink when it's really white?"_

_He grumbled and Rory sent him a smug smirk, both of them heading back upstairs, happy that they weren't arguing anymore._

_---_

Rory was sitting on the arm of Tristan's chair, giggling. "I still can't believe that he left _so fast_."

"That's not even the half of it. We got a different delivery guy, I'm pretty sure that he doesn't even want to come back to the house. I haven't seen him since you told him that I was planning on seducing him."

Rory snorted in laughter, "I am so good."

"Yeah, yeah." He grumbled. "Now can I show you that video? It was really funny."

They spent the rest of the afternoon laughing and joking around, neither one noticing a glaring Summer standing in the doorway.

* * *

**I do accept anonymous reviews *cough* and signed ones *cough* ;)**


	6. URGENT AUTHORS NOTE

Dear Readers,

**T****his is NOT an update, but an URGENT author's note.**

I haven't been on FF for a while now, and this trend will probably continue for quite sometime, if not forever. I have a lot of great recommendations in my favorites, and there just isn't a way to delete an FF account, so I'm leaving everything up.

That being said, don't delete me just yet! Another reason I didn't delete was because I might just get an update for a story, but if it were gone, I couldn't update. **I MIGHT ACTUALLY UPDATE, YOU NEVER KNOW! ;)**

The reason for this inactivation is just that I've had MAD writers block for quite some time now, but also because of some personal reasons. I do love all of my readers and reviewers, and I'd like to thank you all for reading, reviewing and giving me encouragement.

FanFiction really is a great place, and I've met some GREAT people. Please, please, **PLEASE check out my favorites and my profile for some other AWESOME reads. You may actually like some of them! You never know!**

Anyways, I posted this authors note to 'alert' all of my readers to this change. But, also, (and I got this from a friend), it would be kind of cool to let one of the readers finish writing this for me. You never know. Please PM me if you are at all interested.

Okay, I'm going to wrap this up now.

**THANK YOU TO ALL MY READERS/REVIEWERS. YOU TRULY DID BRIGHTEN MY DAY WITH A SMILE EACH TIME I GOT A REVIEW!**

**Anyways, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE feel free to PM me for ANYTHING at all :)  
**

XOXOX,Music Is Love 10

**P.S. Check out STDAY, xoMUSICLOVERxo and YTSGRL on FF for some other great stories.**

**SMC27 is the BOMB for LP stories. **


	7. Chapter 7

Is it just me, or have I been gone forever? I'm sorry. Being a first semester senior is hard on the brain and free time of a person. But now that I have everything sorted out, and I know where I'm going to college, I have time to write! I've been wanting to dive back into the FF pool for a while, but I was really scared that I'd lost my ability to write. I still think so because in my opinion, the chapter below sucks (insert expletive here). But... an update is an update and only practice makes perfect, right?

Actually, I have an idea on how to tie together the loose ends on this story, so this chapter is kind of a filler, but necessary at the same time.

So..this is my first update and I'm officially back! =)

Please do review.

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"So," said Rory, smoothing out the napkin on her lap, "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Summer smiled, clearly nervous. "What, a friend can't have dinner with another friend?"

Rory sighed. "Summer, you said you had something to tell me about Tristan, so just tell me."

She raised her eyebrows, "So we can't even have a pleasant, friendly dinner anymore now that you're…whatever with Tristan?"

Rory slumped and instantly felt guilty. Summer was right. Ever since her and Tristan had been hanging out ,or whatever you wanted to call it, she'd basically been ignoring her friends – especially Summer.

"I'm sorry," she said, guiltily "You're right. We never do see each other anymore and it's my fault."

The rest of the dinner went relatively smoothly, and Rory genuinely did enjoy Summer's company. She was a sweet, funny girl who had certainly had a personality change from her time at Chilton. They talked, _really _talked about their lives. It turns out Summer went to University of Connecticut and studied broadcast journalism, but then found that she liked being a reporter for a newspaper better than for a TV station. After applying for a job at WHYY and finding out the only reason _why_ she got the job was because of her looks, she decided to make a career out of being a reporter where her writing was read and she would be taken seriously.

But after meals had been eaten, drinks had been served and desert had been devoured, Rory was dying to know the real reason why Summer wanted so badly to schedule this dinner.

"So, aside from us being friends, there was an actual _reason_ why you wanted to have dinner with me…" began Rory.

"What _is _going on with you and Tristan?" asked Summer softly.

"I…" Rory paused. "I'm not really sure. I do know that I spend a lot of time with him, but he _has_ changed since high school. I can't put a label on what we are, because truthfully, I myself don't know."

"I'm honestly just trying to look out for you. See, Tristan and I had sort of a thing before. It ended 4 months before you arrived for the job, but it went on for about a year or so; and it was great at times, it really was, but Tristan can get…moody. And at first I thought he needed his space, but it really takes a toll on you when your boyfriend doesn't call or text you and goes MIA from work for weeks at a time."

Rory leaned over and grabbed Summer's hand, "I'm not really looking to get into a relationship with Tristan. I just got out of something…interesting myself and I don't think I'm ready for that. I have too much baggage. But I really do appreciate your concern."

Summer smiled and squeezed her hand. "All I wanted was for you to know what you're going to get yourself into."

Right as Rory was about to ask why she would assume her and Tristan would be together, Summer's phone rang.

"Sorry Rory," she said, "I have to get home, but I'm really glad we had this chance to talk."

"Yeah," she said, still confused, "I enjoyed it too. Be safe getting home!"

x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x

Rory sat on the edge of her bed and looked at her phone. Three missed calls. One from Tristan, one from Lorelai, and one from a blocked number. She sighed, not wanting to think about why in the world Jess would be calling her again. It had been four months since they had seen each other and Rory would be perfectly happy if that was the _last _time she ever saw Jess.

"_Rory!" he said, chasing after her. "Rory!" He grabbed her arm and she tensed up._

"_Let go of me Jess, or I swear I'll scream rape." She said, clearly pissed off._

"_Just hear me out, please!" he let go of her arm and backed up, but his eyes held a pleading look._

"_Why?" asked Rory bitterly, tears pooling in her eyes. "There's no explanation necessary, really. You leave in the middle of night, and when I so graciously appear at the Hartford airport to pick you up, you're kissing another woman. On top of that, she has a kid that looks just like you. What the hell did you want me to think?" _

_She turned around and left, and this time, Jess didn't stop her._

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Rory picked up the phone and called her mother.

"Hey kiddo."

"Mom, I think I need to come home for a few days." Rory was trying so hard not to let her mom know she was crying, but her sniffling gave her away.

"Of course babe. Luke and I are happy to have you. "

"Thanks," she said, feeling better at the prospect of seeing her mother. "I think I'm going to go to bed now, I'm feeling pretty dead."

"Alright babe. See you on Friday."

Putting the phone on the cradle, she opened the drawer on her nightstand and pulled out a simple diamond ring. It had been four months since it was on her finger.


End file.
